Lawn sweeping is a conventional technique used by many homeowners, gardeners, and groundskeepers to collect unwanted debris from a lawn. Such unwanted debris may include, for example, grass clippings, leaves (mulched or whole), and/or pine needles. A well groomed lawn gives a good first impression, whether the well groomed lawn is associated with a business or a home. Furthermore, a well groomed lawn is part of living the “American dream.” For these reasons, among others, a need exists, for an improved lawn sweeper for collecting debris from a lawn.
Lawn sweepers are used in various ways for maintaining a well-groomed lawn. For example, groundskeepers will often mow a lawn, thereby creating grass clippings and autumn-shed leaves. In some instances, mulching the leaves is preferred, as many people are required to compact and bag their lawn refuse for pickup. Thus, a groundskeeper may even make multiple passes to further mulch the leaves and other lawn debris.
In brief detail, known lawn sweepers generally have a lawn sweeper unit for actually collecting the lawn debris and a hopper for storing the collected lawn debris. Known lawn sweeper units generally have a housing mounted on a set of wheels and a brush assembly including a brush, often a rotating brush, that collects debris and places it into the hopper. The hopper may consist of a bag, or it may be made of any other suitable material capable of collecting and containing debris desired to be collected. Known lawn sweepers may be self-contained units, i.e., they may further include an engine and be driven by a user. Other known lawn sweepers may, for example, be towed by a device such as a tractor or lawn mower.
The known lawn sweepers are not without their problems. For example, one feature of some lawn sweepers is an adjustable wheel assembly that allows the lawn sweeper's housing (and thus the attached brush assembly) to move with respect to the wheels. As such, the brush assembly may be positioned at various positions with respect to the ground depending on the debris being collected and the terrain over which a user is collecting the debris. For example, if a user is collecting debris from a lawn that has longer grass, it may be desirable to position the brush further above the ground when sweeping the lawn than when sweeping a lawn with shorter grass.
One problem with this feature, however, is that by adjusting the wheel assembly with respect to the housing, not only does the brush assembly's position change with respect to the ground, but the position of the housing itself with respect to the ground also changes, which may be less than desirable in some instances. Also, the weight is carried by the adjusting mechanism, rather than directly by the wheels. For example, some known lawn sweepers include a stop plate mounted to the housing at the rear of the lawn sweeper unit (just behind the brush). The stop plate may, among other things, catch lawn debris that the brush misses, thereby preventing the missed debris from remaining on the lawn. As the housing is raised with respect to the ground to allow the brush to be further from the ground, however, the distance between the bottom of the stop plate and the ground also increases since the stop plate is connected to the housing in known solutions. Thus, larger debris may pass beneath the stop plate and remain on a swept lawn, which is undesirable.
Other problems also exist with the currently known methods of adjusting the brush height of a lawn sweeper. For example, changing the height of the housing of a lawn sweeper may create problems with towing a lawn sweeper. For example, lawn sweepers often have a towing means, e.g., a tow bar, fixedly mounted to the housing. By changing the height of the housing, the height of the tow bar may also change, which may position the tow bar at an inadequate height for a given hitch on a towing apparatus, e.g., a tractor, lawn mower, all-terrain vehicle, etc.
Other problems are readily apparent in known lawn sweepers. For example, storage space is often limited, especially in homeowners' garages. Known lawn sweepers often take up highly valued space and can create storage-related problems. One known solution, for example, is a detachable hopper assembly, thereby allowing a user to store two smaller components (i.e., the hopper assembly and the lawn sweeper unit). For example, the hopper assembly may be stored by hanging it on a wall while allowing the lawn sweeper unit to take up less space on a ground position.
Therefore, in view of the above-noted problems with known lawn sweepers, among others, a need exists in the art for an improved lawn sweeper that retains all the functionality of the prior designs yet is without the undesirable characteristics of the known solutions. A need exists, for example, for an improved lawn sweeper that allows for a brush adjustment without the disadvantages of the current solutions. Further, as another example, a need also exists for a lawn sweeper that is more easily stored and takes up less storage space when not in use.